The last two British series I had binge-watched were Sherlock and Peaky Blinders. Since then, I’ve been going harder for rom-coms and sassy action. This was pretty much me until recently when I came across this new out-of-the-box, so-called mind-binding mini-series on Netflix: Bodies.
“You’re not the first detective to discover this body”
The sound echoes in my headphones as I go through its min teaser just before hitting that play button. The rest that happens is quite interesting.
In an era where crime thrillers have been the sweet spot for the audience to consume and the producers to invest their sweet buck in, an unusual project by Paul Tomalin takes the genre to a much more interesting level, his fecundity in the making proves that there is still much to explore in crime thrillers series.
Tomaline is fearless, he is creative and ambitious as his recent work Bodies was released on Netflix on November 19th.
Tomalin has been successful in introducing this project with a new spin, the series has been number one in the UK and has been receiving quite the applause.
A unique story, pulled from one of the graphic novels from Si Spencer, Bodies is a series that defies time and immerses the viewers in 4 completely distinctive timelines.
A dead body of a male is discovered in the Longharvest alley of East London. It is naked, it has been brutally shot through the eyes. It has been discovered by four different individuals in four different eras, in the same position, on the same street, in the same city.
English Investigator DS Hasan (Amaka Okafor) from 2023, Charles Whiteman (Jacob Fortune Lloyd) from 1941, Alfred Hillinghead (Kyle Soller) from 1890, and Iris Maplewood (Shira Haas) from 2053 scramble as they try to solve this peculiar mystery.
The plot gets caught up in an unprecedented turn when their faith is surprisingly intertwined, The storyline gets further twisted as the realization transcends time and reality.
In an interview with Hello Magazine ,it is mentioned that Tomalin was initially reluctant to take on this task. But once he started out, there was no stopping him. He started analyzing the original graphic novel, created plans to connect the dots, and added a pivotal character of Stephen Graham acting as an engine in the overall narrative. Tomalin reiterates the importance of the interview.
Stephen Graham is the one our investigators end up knowing about and how they’ve been linked in this maniacal time-traveling dilemma. He’s like John Conner from The Terminator or Marty from Back to the Future.
The series delivers a punch when it comes to visual aesthetics. Each of the four timelines shown in the series is completely different. Initially, it becomes challenging to connect one world to another because of the stark difference they carry. This is by far no easy feat to pull this kind of animation and style in one series, in four different ways. The visuals make it seem like four unique dramas with contrasting storylines for each protagonist.
In Netflix’s Bodies, we see four types of London, the belligerent London of 1941 engaged in the ongoing war in Europe, the artistic one of 1890 dwelling in immorality, the confused contemporary London of 2023 figuring out where to stand, and the post-apocalyptic London of 2053. The characters seamlessly blend. They are part of one big mystery and yet live in their world of chaos.
Netflix Bodies is a serious series. There isn’t anything funny about it, it means business. There are no sarcastic remarks or high-flexing moments from the artists. To me, who is a lover of less serious movie and drama projects, Bodies becomes too serious, not that it’s bad, but it’s too serious and not for those wanting to escape that harsh reality of their world by diving into movies or series.
The Cinematics are on point in the movie, the scenes and the transitions well blend into the atmosphere and create the perfect rapture to be immersed in. Viewers get to the 4 vibes of the 4 eras in a flawless artistic manner. Where the teams could have made 4 separate series, they chose to pour all of it into one. Bodies do feel like something that you don’t see every day debuting on Netflix.
Netflix’s mini-series Bodies gives hope and acts as a remnant of still genuinely entertaining masterpieces that could change the industry currently being spoiled with overly written and run-of-the-mill projects.
This is not your everyday crime drama. It’s definitely the best British crime thriller of the year. And that’s not just me praising it. Bodies have been accumulating commendable remarks. The audiences have liked it, and famous magazines have elevated it as something creative.
